We're familiar with the term "Bad Port" - obviously referring to a game developed for consoles and is later converted so it can be used on a PC - but what exactly does that mean?

**A recent article on MPC's sister mag (PCGamer) indicated a bad port was low graphics, or lack of graphical options to enhance the appearance. **I always thought it referred to buggy games that wouldn't play correctly...OR games that were so difficult to play with a mouse and keyboard that it was nearly impossible to enjoy. Case in point, one of the Lego-based games (Lego Star Wars) was originally mapped so that you had to use both hands on the keyboard - the mouse wasn't easily configurable. I don't know if they eventually fixed that in later releases because I stopped buying after that initial experience.

I'm interested in your opinion, so, what do you say? Is it graphics? Poor game play? Both? Or are there a list of criteria that a game must fail before it can be deemed a "Bad Port"?

Last edited by btdog on Sat Jan 05, 2013 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

A bad game port is just like an aging beauty queen. Sure, you can tell she was kinda hot before the ravages of age crushed her looks and her spirit, but those qualities are pretty hard to see under all the cosmetic surgery and cheap mascara.

Just replace the reconstructive surgery with crippling slow down or terrifyingly bad pop-up. Just like the aforementioned imaginary GILF, these games were all once great. Well, until the botched facelift and half-assed code.

For me a bad port is a game that doesn't take advantage of the capabilities of a PC in such a way that it greatly hinders the experience for the user. The range of bad port properties is extensive. Some are cumulatively frustrating (to the point of making the game unplayable) while others are just annoying.

Some of the basic bad port symptoms are low resolution textures, shorter view distances (or fogs), limited field of views, poor menu navigation and design, limited graphical and sound options. Things like this can annoy but might not totally ruin the experience of a game.

On the other hand more grievous offenses can out right ruin the game for me. Button mashing quick time events, weapon balance issues and broken game mechanics do to different control systems, limited or no controller options, frame rate and loading issues, and choppy or unresponsive controls, among other things make a game almost unplayable IMO.

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